The Brief
Growth Hubs are local public/private sector partnerships which promote, co-ordinate and deliver local and national business support, making it easier for businesses to find the help they need. Five growth hubs were involved in a pilot with HMRC, which developed test and learn activities for use with growth hubs and the businesses they work with. Following the pilot, information and support was made available to all growth hubs. HMRC wished to assess the impact of their activity with growth hubs, focusing on what had worked well, what could be improved, and the perceived and actual impact of their work. HMRC also wanted to develop an understanding of how it could effectively support business growth in the future.
The Solution
Fifty qualitative telephone interviews were conducted with individuals from a sample of 30 growth hubs, five of which were the pilot growth hubs. In total, 10 individuals were interviewed from pilot Growth Hubs, and 40 from non-pilot hubs. When possible, interviews were conducted with a strategic lead and an adviser from each growth hub sampled.
The Outcome
There was good feedback on the test and learn activities, with information being shared with a wider group than the pilot through email and sharing within ‘knowledge banks’. All pilot growth hubs were very positive about the process, felt HMRC worked collaboratively with them, and that their views and feedback were considered.
In general, respondents had positive views of HMRC support to growth hubs, with a feeling that a closer working relationship between the two was needed and would be beneficial. Interactions with HMRC through webinars or workshops were considered an effective and beneficial way to increase advisers’ knowledge. In addition, growth hubs would value having a named contact at HMRC to liaise with and would value regular communication.
Growth_Hubs_pilot_work_evaluation_final_report-1.pdf